No saddles and no stirrups for Alexander’s cavalry

Saddles and stirrups did not exist in Alexander’s days. He and his cavalry forces rode their horses bareback, which required considerable communication with the horse and a great sense of balance. It is extremely uncomfortable for both the horse and the rider, and after a while, also becomes tiring for both. Using a cloth or animal skin to sit on, provides some relief – but still. 

Alexander and his highly skilled cavalry could maneuver and fight using the technique called “the knee grip”. It meant they would grip the horse’s sides with their knees and in doing so they applied a balanced amount of pressure to stay on the horse and to guide it. 

I always marveled how the Macedonian cavalry managed to maneuver toward and among the enemy lines, throwing their spears and hacking their kopis down on the attackers without falling off. Some sources establish that they used shorter, more maneuverable horses better suited for battle without stirrups. Yet others have Alexander and his generals ride noble horse breeds.

The first saddles are thought to come from Central Asia. The oldest specimen so far has been discovered in a woman’s grave at Yanghai in the northwest of the Turpan Basin in China. These people may have had close contact with the nomadic Scythians, who introduced them to the saddle. 

The specimen from the grave is made of leather and thanks to radiocarbon it can be dated to between 724 and 396 BC. This most recent date is only forty years before Alexander was born. It makes me wonder what the picture would have been if the West had been in touch with China at that time! 

[Picture from Live Science, credit Patrick Wertmann] 

The woman in the Yanghai grave wore a coat made of hides, woolen pants, and short leather boots. The saddle was made of two cowhide cushions stuffed with deer and camel hair and straw. It was placed on her buttocks as if she was sitting on it. Analyses confirm that such a saddle would have efficiently held the rider in a firm position even without stirrups, which were invented in China as well and reached Europe around the 2nd century BC. The Romans in the 1st century AD commonly used saddles that were highly effective, despite their lack of stirrups. 

Saddles are said to require a girth, i.e., a strap of hide that was tied around the horse’s barrel. This advantage was quickly picked up by the steppe people of Central Asia. The Mongol tribes carried this knowledge to Europe. The Byzantine emperors were the first to mention the saddle stirrups in 580 AD. 

This evolution led to our modern use of saddles with stirrups that provide safe seating for the cavalry on the battlefield and on hunting parties. 

It makes one wonder if and how the saddle and stirrups would have affected Alexander’s battle techniques and tactics …